I was complimenting a client on how well she has been taking care of the little stuff and not procrastinating.

She let me know she was using a plus one philosophy. If something spills in the kitchen, the drawer next to it gets decluttered. If she is taking care of a piece of paper, she adds one more to take care of. If she is cleaning up one little pile, a nearby pile also gets taken care of.

I try to do something similar. If I am going into the kitchen from the living room, I’ll do a quick scan of the living room to see what I can bring with. If I am picking out a shirt from my closet and noticed I have passed by a shirt the past 5 times I can declutter it. I just wrote a card and while I was there thought of a few other people that could use encouragement as well.

I look at spills and broken things as opportunities to take care of those areas. If you are clearing the kitchen table can you go one more to polishing the table? If you are washing the dishes can you do a plus one and wipe the counters?

If you are already in the area doing something, try adding one more thing while you are there. This is a quick way to get those little things done.